Re: Conference on Communication and Culture in Beijing

ENANGEL who-is-at cityu.edu.hk
Thu, 22 Aug 1996 10:42:17 +0800

Hi Vera,

Yes, I was quite surprised myself by the different (generally liberal)
atmosphere I sensed in Beijing this time (as compared with my visit there
11 years ago!). Although some colleagues' (from Hong Kong) paper on
"human rights and the media" has been advised to withdraw by the
organizers, we do not sense much high-handed censorship on the other
aspects of the conference. (My sense of it is that our colleagues could
have been allowed to discuss similar issues under a different title, one that's
less sensitive, or confrontational to the authorities; one must bear in
mind that it's a different cultural milieu; but it seems that if one does
not show stances of open confrontation, the authorities are willing to be
tolerent to different voices--and one must not start with Western cultural
assumptions about these things/interactions in China).

Perhaps, it's better for me to answer possible questions you might have...
though I must say I can answer from my own impressions only (so it's one
person's impressions :-) )

Cheers,
Angel

> Angel,
> Thank you for your interesting report about the conference in Beijing,
> will you give us some more impressions if time permits?
> Vera
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Vera P. John-Steiner
> Department of Linguistics
> Humanities Bldg. 526
> University of New Mexico
> Albuquerque, NM 87131
> (505) 277-6353 or 277-4324
> Internet: vygotsky who-is-at triton.unm.edu
> ---------------------------------
>
>
>